


Lord Bane´s Murder Mysteries - A wedding and a funeral

by Katy_777



Series: Lord Bane´s Murder Mysteries [7]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV), The Shadowhunter Chronicles - Cassandra Clare
Genre: 1920s, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries Fusion, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Police, Private Investigators
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-19
Updated: 2019-06-20
Packaged: 2019-07-14 10:46:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 19,796
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16038896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katy_777/pseuds/Katy_777
Summary: With the end of World War I, a new era was born. An era full of glitz and glamour. Life was a seemingly never-ending party. Magnus Bane is a distant relative of the royal family. He has a title, wealth, a penchant for extravagance and he never gets tired of getting himself into trouble. He´d travelled the whole world, always trying to escape his past. But after facing the monsters of his childhood, he finally has everything he´d ever dreamed of, and even more. But as the planning of his best friends wedding gets overshadowed by the return of an old accomplice, an old love, an old enemy, Magnus needs to find their murderer before she can finish her evil plan.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Here´s the promised sequel about the Saphael wedding. Hope you like it;)

“There´s a higher possibility that I´ll turn into a vampire one day than that I would ever agree to this!”  
“But Raphae-“  
“NO!”, he burst out, reminding himself that Magnus was his best friend. He´s his best friend and he´d done worse.  
Well, maybe he hadn´t done worse…  
They sat in the kitchen, looking at the plans and patterns in front of them. Simon´s and Raphael´s wedding was approaching and Magnus had SO much more gorgeous plans how he could make their wedding unique and unforgettable. Sadly, Raphael disagreed with most of his brilliant ideas, but that didn´t mean that Magnus would stop trying to convince him. After all, he´d so much in his mind that he would like to put through: fountains, several pyramids of champagne glasses, a lot of smuggled liquors and a lot of glitter. He´d even found them some FANTASTIQUE wedding suits, but as expected, Raphael had an antipathy towards his gorgeous sense of fashion. As he´d disagreed with his plan to use the Chairman as their ringbearer. Or their fluffy flower girl.  
“Can we at least do the fireworks?”, Magnus asked, giving Raphael a sheepish grin.  
Raphael let his head drop on the tabletop, his forehead laying on a paper with a note about sequined tuxedos.  
“Are you ok?”, Magnus asked, tilting his head.  
“Fireworks, plural?”, Raphael commented, his voice muffled.  
“But of course!”, Magnus beamed, totally excited. Raphael raised his head lightly, just enough so that he could glare at him with narrowed eyes.  
“Have you ever heard of the word `discreet´?, he sighed.  
“Of course. What a terrible word.”, Magnus waved off, causing Raphael to let his head drop back on the tabletop.  
That was when Tessa came in, a bright smile on her face. A lot had happened in the five months since they´d caught Mortmain and their uncle Azazel. For once: They´d had a big family reunion. Magnus had to admit that it´d went better than expected, even though his step-mother, Tessa´s mother, had been angry with their father for lying to her all this time. But her anger got overshadowed by her infinite joy of seeing, not only her daughter, but also her sister again. Harriet had even decided to move back to her sister and her brother-in-law in England, while Tessa had accepted Magnus´ offer to move into his mansion. After all, she had a life in New York: she was working at the hospital (even though Magnus had informed her that she wouldn´t need to work anymore, since they were immensely rich; but Tessa had refused to quit, telling him that she would do something good and important by helping people), her best friend Sophie was living here, and of course her refound older brother. And even though she hadn´t told him anything officially, Magnus had the suspicion that two certain taxi drivers were also part of the reason why she hadn´t wanted to leave New York.  
As Tessa looked at them, she stopped in her movement, frowning. “Is he alright?”, she asked, pointing at Raphael whose forehead still rested on the note about the fantastique (at least Magnus thought they were fantastique; Raphael just called them a pain for his eyes) tuxedos.  
“We just have a little disagreement regarding some aspects of the wedding.”, Magnus shrugged.  
Tessa´s eyebrows flew up, “What have you done?”, she asked, eyeing him reproachfully.  
“Why do you think that I´ve done something?”, Magnus blurted out. Raphael on the other hand finally raised his head, laughing.  
“Because she knows you long enough now.”, he explained, grinning towards her.  
“I don´t know what you´re talking about.”, Magnus pouted, “I´m a prime example for exemplary behavior.”  
“And the really disturbing thing about that sentence is that you´re actually believing that.”, Raphael commented dryly, “I mean you´re-“  
“a genius, a fashionable role model, fantastique, immensely talented-“, Magnus threw in, but got interrupted by Raphael´s correction:  
“CRAZY!”  
“People have said the same thing about many great men of history.”, Magnus grinned, causing Tessa to chuckle.  
“Well, he has point.”, she laughed.  
“I´m not going to discuss this with you, Magnus. And you”, Raphael looked over to Tessa, “I´ve thought you would be on my side.”  
“I can´t help it. He´s my older brother.”, Tessa shrugged, grinning.  
“Y tú, Brutus.”, Raphael said.  
“Perdóname, César.”, Tessa answered, immediately lightening up Raphs mood.  
“Well, that was historically incorrect.”, Magnus grinned, not really caring about that fact, “I can´t recall Brutus apologizing for his betrayal of Caesar.”  
Since Tessa had moved in, Raphael always gave her Spanish lessons because she liked the language so much. Magnus was already planning to travel with her to spain one day to show her that beautiful country. Actually, he would like to show her the whole world with all of its beautiful places, different cultures and possible adventures. Maybe one day, he thought, they would travel the world all together: Raphael and Simon, he and Alec, Tessa and Will and Jem.  
Disaster guaranteed.  
A wonderful imagination.  
“Hey, Magnus.”, Ragnor´s voice cut him out of his thoughts. He entered the kitchen with a small parcel in his hands, “The postman has just delivered this for you. No sender. But it comes from France.”  
“Please tell me you haven´t ordered another pair of sequined ties for me and Simon.”, Raphael pleaded, rubbing his temple in soothing circles.  
“Not that I recall.”, Magnus frowned, curiously opening the parcel. As he´d opened it, he looked inside, his eyes widening in shock, causing Raphael to sit up straight.  
“What´s up, mi amigo.”  
Magnus swallowed hard, reaching into the parcel to take out an old collier. It was huge and heavy and in the middle hang a red gemstone.  
“The queen´s ruby.”, Ragnor realized in some state of shock.  
“What about it? Guys?”, Tessa asked, noticing very well how the color was starting to leave their faces.  
“Wasn´t the ruby with-“  
“Yes.”, Magnus answered Ragnor without waiting for him to finish the question. He didn´t need to hear the end of it to knew what he meant.  
“Is there something else in the parcel?”, Raphael asked.  
Magnus reached inside and took out a postcard from Paris. On it´s back stood a little note that Magnus read out aloud:  
“I´ve thought I´m so generous to inform you that I`m planning to invite myself.  
Can´t wait for your wedding, Raphael mon chéri. And I really can´t wait to see you again, Magnus mon bien-aimé.  
Greetings, C.B..”  
“Oh god.” Ragnor breathed out, finally realizing the meaning of the words completely.  
“Who´s C.B.?”, Tessa inquired, eyeing them worried.  
Magnus swallowed hard, before answering, “Camille Belcourt.”


	2. Chapter 2

“So, Camille Belcourt is back in town?”, Alec asked as he leaned against the countertop.  
Magnus had called him and the constable directly after they´d received the parcel.  
“It appears so.”, Magnus sighed, trying to hide his tension. He still remembered the last time they had to deal with Camille. Back then he´d screwed things up badly in his attempt to protect Raphael, because he´d stupidly thought that he couldn´t trust the detective with it. But this… this was a new chance. A chance to finally catch Camille and bring her into prison for all the crimes that she´d committed.  
“Hey, Magnus?”, Alec´s worried voice cut him out of his thoughts.  
He looked up at him, meeting his blue questioning eyes, “Yeah?”  
“Are you ok?”, The detective asked, slightly tilting his head, and Magnus found himself to be overwhelmed by such a simple question. Was he ok? Well, that was Camille. And he and Camille had quite the history together. Not to forget that Raphael was involved in this as well. And now also Simon. But they´d already faced greater demons and won, right? But he couldn´t help reminding himself that Camille was never to underestimate.  
“I am, I guess.”, he responded, sounding not as convincing as he hoped he would. Alec gave him a short once-over before walking over to him, closing him into a tight hug.  
Magnus would have loved to lose himself into his embrace, but he also knew that there were other things they had to handle right now. But still… maybe one more minute? Surely no one would die just because they had stayed like this one minute longer. Or maybe two?  
He sighed, pulling away. He knew that if he wouldn´t do that, that they would probably stay like this forever. And they needed all the lead that they could get if they wanted to stop Camille from – whatever evil thing she was planning this time.  
“What are we gonna do now, mi amigo?”, Raphael asked from the doorframe where he stood with Simon, arms crossed in front of his chest and a brow raised questioningly.  
“We stop her.”, Magnus determined. Raphael nodded lightly in agreement but Magnus could see that he was as tensed as he was. They both remembered Paris. 

5 years ago (part 1)…  
Magnus loved Paris. The food, the art, the atmosphere, everything here was loveable. Not to mention that it was the city of fashion, means THE perfect city for Magnus. But Magnus visited Paris not only for the fine fabrics and the extraordinary designs, but also for its attractions: like the castle of Versailles. A remnant from the time of the monarchy that had happily survived the chaos and destructiveness of the revolution. Or the Eiffel tower, a more than 300 meters high iron building that had been constructed for the world exhibition. But right now Magnus was visiting the Louvre, a gorgeous museum full of beautiful pieces of art. Even though Magnus had no interest in any of the famous paintings or sculptures right now, but only for one young man who appeared to be his age, maybe one or two years younger. He was watching him for a while now. He was wearing an expensive looking black suit (even though Magnus thought that an all-in-black outfit was a little bit boring, he had to admit that it suited him) that made him seem not only elegant but also dark and scary. Magnus supposed that he was from spain or Italy or another southern country? His dark curls were messy and styled at the same time (Magnus really had no idea how this was even possible) and he had dark eyes. He looked like a Caravaggio angel: beautiful and timeless. But that was not what caught Magnus´ attention. What actually raised his steadily growing interest in this young man was the fact that he didn´t seem to care about the art as well. He was casually walking through the halls with the art, together with the other visitors, but instead of looking at the paintings that were surrounding him he only seemed to care for the guards, and the other security measures.  
It was really interesting.  
Magnus always tried to find himself an adventure, to learn new things and to meet interesting people. But he was sure as hell that he´d never met a real art thief before. And he was tempted to not call for one of the security men but to follow this man instead. For once, because he had no proof yet that this guy was really a thief and second, because he actually would like to talk to him in person first.  
He would really like to know his story. Magnus knew what had screwed up his life and had turned him into the person he was today, but he would really like to find out what made this guy chose this career.  
And he was somehow in the mood of stopping a criminal today (what was strange considering that he was normally the one who committed the crimes).  
Magnus had followed the guy into a nearby café, watching how the potential art thief took a seat on one of the tables, seemingly waiting for someone. Magnus made a split decision and chose that he would be that person so he took a seat towards the young man who eyed him suspiciously, eyebrows raised.  
“There´s no seat at this table for you.”, the guy said, not caring that he sounded hostile. He seemed to be the type of guy who didn´t care about that.  
Magnus simply gave him one of his most charming smiles as he answered: “That´s sad. I would love to talk with a real art thief. I have so many questions, for example what you´re planning to steal out of the Louvre.”  
The way the man´s expression changed told him that he´d been right with his suspicion. They guy´s poisture tensed, his jaw clenched and his eyes went wide in shock. At least for a second before he narrowed them to crescents, eyeing Magnus closely now. Magnus was pretty sure that he was analyzing him, the same way he´d analyzed him before, back then at the museum.  
“Who are you?”, the guy asked, his voice threatening. Magnus decided that he wouldn´t care about that and play to be unaffected by the audible threat in every single letter of his words. Instead, he kept his charming smile and cheering mood as he said:  
“I´m Magnus Bane. And with whom do I have the pleasure?”  
“As if you wouldn´t already know that.”, the man scoffed.  
“I don´t, actually.”, Magnus shrugged, causing the guy to startle for one second. He´d seemingly realized that Magnus was telling the truth.  
“You´re not a criminal?”, the guy asked, even though it sounded more than a pointed-out fact than a question.  
“No, I´m a Lord.”, Magnus grinned, before adding, “But if you know some Lords than you´ll probably agree with me that there is no huge difference between these two things.”  
The man raised one brow, but Magnus could see how the corners of his lips were going up as well, turning into a light grin.  
“I´m Raphael.”, the art thief – Raphael- finally introduced himself, “So, what do you want, Lord criminal?”  
“Talking.”, Magnus sounded casual, shrugging.  
“Talking?”, Raphael raised his eyebrows, “Are you always that reckless, Lord criminal?”  
“Most of the time, yes.”, Magnus grinned, “Besides, why don´t you call me Magnus.”  
“Why don´t you go away?”, Raphael asked blunt.  
“Because this makes more fun.”, Magnus replied, causing Raphael to scoff and to look down on the newspaper on the table, pretending to read.  
“Are you ignoring me now?”, Magnus asked amused, and as he didn´t get any answer, “You know that the principle of `ignore it and it goes away´ not really works, do you?”, he pointed out, before adding with a wide grin, “Especially not if you get chased by half a dozen police cars, trust me with that. Even though I´m pretty sure you have you´re experiences with that as well.”  
That caused Raphael to look up at him again, but with a look on his face as if Magnus would have just outed himself as the crazy hatter from Alice´s Adventures in Wonderland.  
“You are insane.”, the thief pointed out.  
“What makes you think that?”  
“You mean besides the last five minutes of this conversation?”, the man raised a brow, “How about the fact that you have recklessly followed a possible criminal and confronted him about his plan? You know I´m dangerous, right?”  
“No, you´re not.”  
“And what brings you to that conclusion?”  
“I know dangerous people. I got raised by them. And that´s why I can tell that you´re not nearly as evil as you want me to think you are.”  
Raphael seemed to be surprised by that answer, but regained his composure very quickly.  
“Maybe you´re right, maybe I´m not. But my new partner IS truly dangerous, and she´ll be here soon. So you should better go.”, he said and Magnus noticed very well how he tensed when he spoke about this new partner.  
“You don´t like her?”, Magnus asked, even though it was more of a conclusion.  
“I don´t like the way she´s handling things.”, he confessed. That was when Raphael noticed the blond girl that walked passed the windows of the café. When she saw him with that way too curious Lord, she widened her eyes, before turning on her heels and walking away again, her blond curls blowing in the wind.  
“Maldito sea!”, Raphael cursed under his breath, causing Magnus (who hadn´t noticed the girl outside) to give him a questioning look, “I´ll go.”  
“Why? Not interested in making new friends?”, Magnus joked, “Besides, what about your partner?”  
“You´ve scared her away.”, Raphael said, before leaving the café without any further word.  
“And of course he hasn´t paid.”, Magnus said with a sigh, more to himself than anyone around him before throwing some coins on the table and heading outside as well, determined not to lose Raphael´s track. But he was too late. The thief was nowhere to be seen anymore...


	3. Chapter 3

“I´m pretty sure I´ve never asked you that”, Alec looked curious, “But what has happened between you two and Camille Belcourt?”  
Magnus frowned, not sure what to say. “It´s a long story, a complicated one. But to make it short: she hates us.”  
“And what had the two of you to do with her in the first place?”, Tessa asked, curious. She sat on one of the kitchen chairs, drinking a Tea.  
“She´s my former partner and Magnus´ ex-girlfriend.”, Raphael explained shortly.  
“Wait what?!”, Alec startled. That was new to him. He knew that Camille and Raphael had once worked together but he´d no idea that Camille and Magnus had once been lovers.  
“To be fair”, Magnus raised his hands in surrender, “I had no idea about her profession.”  
“Or the fact that she´s a succubus.”, Raphael added.  
“Succubus?”, Tessa raised her brows questioningly.  
“A demon who feeds on the life energy of other people.”  
“Wow”, Tessa blinked, seemingly not sure what to respond, “That´s… figuratively.”  
“How could you have not known that?”, Alec frowned, turning to Magnus, “You´re brilliant when it comes to people. You normally always know if they´re good or bad. How haven´t you noticed that she´s evil?”  
“Love makes you blind.”, Magnus sighed and Alec felt a little sting in his chest. Why didn´t he knew that Magnus had once been in love with Camille Belcourt. Why did it disturb him so much that Magnus had seemingly once loved her?   
“And she´s a manipulative abysmally evil demon with the face of an angel who regards other people as nothing more than toys for her personal amusement and who uses them like pawns.”, Raphael bit out, cutting Alec out of his thoughts. Simon, who stood next to Raphael, shot him a confused look, noticing very well the disgust in his voice.   
“She sounds like a lovely person.”, Tessa commented awkwardly.  
“You have no idea.”, Magnus sighed. “But to come back to our original conundrum: We have only two weeks left until the wedding. Whatever Camille is planning to do, she´ll either do it during these two weeks, or she´ll do it on your wedding day. We need to find out what she´s up to so that we can stop her.”  
“So”, Tessa frowned, thinking about his words, “What you´re saying is practically that we´re either having two whole weeks to solve this case, or no time at all?”  
“That´s the problem, my dear.”  
“Not to mention that she could already be back in New York without us knowing anything. God knows what she´s doing in this very second while we´re sitting here, talking.”, Raphael mentioned.  
“I don´t like that thought.”, Simon voiced what they´d all felt.  
“Noone here does, Simon”, Magnus said, swallowing hard. “But Raphael is right. It´s possible that Camille is already closer than we would like her to be.”  
“Means that it´s only a matter of time until we´ll have another dead that goes on her account.”, Alec determined.  
“Maybe we should move the wedding to another date?”, Simon offered, unsure.  
Raphael looked over to him, taking his hand into his own, squeezing it encouragingly.  
“I won´t let her ruin our day, mi amor. I promise you that you´ll get the wedding you deserve, without compromises.”  
“But what if she succeeds with whatever she´s planning?”, There was a slight note of worry in his voice, and Raphael was only too aware of that. He felt an anger rising in his chest. He wouldn´t let Camille close to Simon. Neither would he let her destroy their wedding by murdering or hurting someone else.  
“We won´t let this happen, Simon.”, Magnus said, walking out of the kitchen without any further word. Alec looked after him, seemingly hesitating for one moment before following him on the floor.  
Raphael understood very well how he felt. With Camille´s return they had to expect the worst, because if they haven´t forgotten Paris, then she hasn´t forgotten it either, meaning that she´s out for revenge.

5 years ago (part 2)…

What a strange day…  
What a strange guy… this Lord Bane.  
Raphael couldn´t help wondering how he´d found out about him being an art thief. No one has ever managed to catch him, neither the police nor someone else. But this guy has caught him without Raphael even knowing that he´d been caught, acting like it would be the most normal thing in the world to have a petit café and a nice talk with a criminal.  
As Raphael walked through the picturesque streets of Paris, he looked at the people around him: couples in love, mothers with their children, guys in elegant suits and girls with tons of shopping bags from Chanel. They were laughing, chatting, walking through the little street with no care in the world. They all walked past him with no idea that he was actually a criminal. But this guy just looked through him like it would be nothing. And it was getting on Raphaels nerves.  
But what pissed him off even more was that he´d scared away Camille. Well, `scared´ wasn´t really the right word to describe it. He was pretty sure that there was nothing that could scare that demoness.  
And now he could go to her and explain to her why he was in that café with that guy, when he´d actually had an appointment with her. She could be so dramatic. He and Pablo had always made jokes about her overly dramatic behavior, but now Pablo wasn´t there anymore. He´d left him, and Camille was the only partner he´d left to count on.   
He couldn´t help feeling a sting in his chest at the thought of Pablo. But maybe Camille was right, maybe love wasn´t meant for people who lived lives like them, lives of stealing and lying and reckless law-breaking. 

One hour and an overly dramatic reproachful speech of Camille later, Raphael was sitting in one of the velvet armchairs in her hotel room, a glass of her favorite champagne in the one hand and a map of the Louvre on the table in front of him, discussing with her the best way to break in.  
That was when he heard the front door opening, and a familiar voice echoed through the floor, making him look up.   
“Camille? My love? Are you there?”, the cheerful voice asked.  
It couldn´t be, could it? He looked over at Camille, fixing her with his glare.  
“Camille”, he bit out through gritted teeth as he heard footsteps approaching, “is it possible that you´ve forgotten to tell me something? For example that you know the man from the café?”  
That was when their visitor stepped into the salon of the hotel room, stopping abruptly as his eyes spotted Raphael in the big armchair.  
“Magnus, mon amour”, Camille´s voice turned poisenous sweet. “How lovely to see you.”  
“Camille”, the Lord´s voice wasn´t cheerful anymore, “What´s going on here?”  
“Well, that´s a question I would like to get answered as well.”, Raphael commented.  
“Isn´t it obvious?”, Camille asked sweetly, “The three of us are going to rob the Louvre.”


	4. Chapter 4

Magnus had to get out of there. There had just been too many people at once.   
He leaned against the wall of his entry hall, closing his eyes and letting out a breath he didn´t even know he was holding.  
He tried to bring some order into his mind, his thoughts racing, when he felt a hand on his shoulder.  
“Magnus?”  
He opened his eyes, looking into Alec´s worried face.   
“Hey, Magnus? Are you alright?”, he slightly tilted his head, eyeing him questioningly.  
“No need to worry, love.”, Magnus said, giving him a soft smile. At least it was supposed to be a soft smile. But Alec couldn´t help but notice how brittle his smile was, couldn´t help but to notice the expression in Magnus´ eyes, so he cupped his face with both hands and leaned forward to kiss him. Magnus made a small sound of surprise, but didn´t pull away. Instead, he was kissing Alec back, one hand wandering to Alec´s cheek as well. As Alec drew back, Magnus gave him a warm smile, a real smile this time.  
“I´ll always worry about you, Magnus.”, Alec admitted, “Because you´re important to me.”, he said firmly, noticing how Magnus´ eyes widened for a second before he lowered his gaze so that his eyelashes threw long shadows over his flushed cheeks.  
“But not this time, darling. After all it´s Raphael´s wedding Camille want to crash.”  
“Doesn´t mean she´s not going to come after you as well.”, Alec argued. “What was this between you and Camille anyways?”  
“I don´t think you want to hear this, love.”, Magnus admitted, swallowing hard.  
“Hey, I already know about your former murder-pact with your aunt. This can´t be worse, right?”, Alec joked, but regretted it immediately as he saw Magnus´ expression.  
“No, it wasn´t worse.”, Magnus finally said, “But it could have been if Raphael and I wouldn´t have betrayed her back then.”  
“But you have.” Alec pointed out firmly, “And that´s the only thing that truly counts.”  
“We have. And that´s the reason why Camille will not show any mercy when it comes to taking revenge on us.”  
“But last time she´s spared your life as well.”  
“Because last time she´s played with us. Like a cat is playing with a mouse.” Magnus said bitterly, “That´s what she does. She loves her little games.”  
“And we´re her pawns.”, Alec concluded, realizing what that meant.   
So he rapped his arms around Magnus, pulling him into a tight hug. And after a moment, Magnus put his arms around him as well, hugging him back and sank into his embrace.  
“Tell me about what happened with Camille.”, he encouraged Magnus as he rested his head on Alec´s shoulder, burying his face in his neck.

“But how bad did the thing between Camille and you guys really end?”, Tessa inquired.  
“Don´t ask questions you don´t wanna hear the answer to, girl.”, Ragnor commented grumpily from where he leaned against the countertop, arms crossed in front of his chest.  
“Means REALLY bad.”, Raphael commented.  
“What have you done?”, Simon asked, “Did you throw her favourite sequin dress off a bridge?”  
“We did, actually.”, Raphael admitted, making a remorseful face.  
“But to be fair”, Magnus added from the doorframe where he´d popped up with Alec by his side, “it was on fire.”  
“Wait”, Tessa said, her eyes wandering back and forth between Magnus and Raphael, “Are you serious about that?!”  
“I am.”, Raphael said, “But that´s not why she´s after us now.”  
“Even though I am pretty sure that she´s still pissed because of said dress.”, Magnus added.

Later in the night Raphael and Simon were laying in Raphael´s huge bed, discussing the events of the day. Tomorrow, Alec would ask at the local airport if someone who´d suited to Camille´s description had arrived there lately while Magnus would contact his questionable friends at the port to see if someone had spotted Camille and if they hadn´t, to look for her.  
“You think we´ll be able to find her? To actually stop her?”, Simon asked, looking into Raphael´s dark eyes who seemed to be black in the darkness of their room.  
“We will, mi amor.”, Raphael assured him, hoping that he sounded more convinced than he actually was, “You have my word.”, he said, leaning closer.  
They were laying on their sides, turned towards each other, resting on one forearm, using the other arm to cup the others face tenderly with one hand.   
Raphael felt Simon shifting, pressing closer so he could deepen the kiss and Raphael was lost. Lost in the feelings of his lips, lost at the touch of his hand on his cheek, lost in the moment.  
As he laid there in the darkness of his room, lost in the arms of his love, the man he wanted to be with for the rest of his life, he had to think back at darker times.   
Times when he´d lived in metropolises like Paris or venice, when he´d slept in luxurious hotels and never had to worry about money.  
Times when he´d spent his nights with running away from the police, mostly with an expensive piece of art or jewelry in his carry-on baggage.  
Times when he had no real home, no family, no friends. Times when the only person he had to rely on was Camille Belcourt.  
He couldn´t believe how much had changed since then. Couldn´t believe how happy he was now.

5 years ago… (part 3)  
“Since when are you an art thief?”, Magnus demanded, looking at Camille as if she´d lost her mind and Raphael snorted.  
“She´s a criminal for years now”, Raphael commented, somewhere between being shocked and being amused about the current situation, “Haven´t you known that, Lord criminal?”  
“Wait, so at the café…”  
“I was waiting for her.”, Raphael confirmed, “but I have to admit that I had no idea that she knows you.”  
“Like I had no idea that she knows you.”, Magnus replied, causing both men to turn their gazes at Camille who just shrugged sheepishly.  
“Camille”, Raphael said in a threatening tone, “what is THIS supposed to be?”  
“Oh boys, please”, Camille, who seemed to be totally unaffected by Raphaels scary mood just waved him off, seemingly bored by now, “don´t act stupid. I´ve told you what I want: We three will break into the Louvre to steal the ring of cleopatra from their Egyptian exhibition.”  
“You´ve got to be kidding me..”, Magnus stared at her, “Why do you think would I help you with that, love?”  
“Because that´s the only reason why I´ve started dating you in the first place, mon amour. Because you are going to be a useful accomplice.”  
Raphael noticed that Lord criminal looked like someone had punched him in the face.  
He knew Camille could be a real bitch, but this was just disgusting. He was used to her flirting with people: it was helpful to get information from them or to distract them so that Raphael could sneak in somewhere.  
But starting a relationship so you could use your partner as a pawn in your game? With that she´d actually just manage to undercut his already very low and very bad opinion of her.  
The Lord, Raphael recalled his name was Magnus, stared at Camille for a very long time while the silence in the room became more and more tensed with every minute passing by.  
Finally, he let out a heavy sigh, before answering firmly:  
“What do you need me to do?”


	5. Chapter 5

Magnus thought about how many gift baskets he would have to buy to properly thank Nigel for all the times he´d helped him with his cases now.  
The port was still the same: the same old rusty ships, the same dockworkers that were running around, carrying heavy wooden boxes, and the same smell - this mix of dirt, seawater, seaweed and sweat – that was everywhere in the air around him.  
It was strange… Magnus thought. Until now, the 20s have turned out to be a time of abundance. People threw their money lavishly out the window, everyone was only living in the moment, no one cared about what may happen in the future and even though it is officially forbidden, everyone drowned in alcohol and opium.  
New York was a city full of extravagance, wastefulness, luxury and crazy parties.  
And that´s what made the port of New York seem so odd. Because its port was down to earth. Simple people with simple lives who worked hard every day to pay their bills.  
The total opposite to the world that Magnus lived in every day. And maybe that´s what fascinated him about the port so much: that visiting it felt like entering another world.  
“Hey”, Jem´s voice brought him back to reality, “who´s that girl that´s staring at us right there?”, he asked, discretely pointing at one corner.  
Magnus and Will followed his gaze. At one darker corner of the port, at the entry to a small alley stood a petite Asian girl in a silver glittering dress with long straight black hair and dark red lipstick. She suited as less in this place as Magnus did. And she was obviously – and with no doubt - staring at them.  
“Just ignore her”, Will waved him off, “I tend to have this effect on people.”, he said, causing Jem to roll his eyes.  
“I´m pretty sure that this is not why she´s staring at us, Will.”, Jem argued.  
“Jem´s right.”, Magnus said, not taking his eyes from the girl.  
“What makes you so sure?”, Will asked.  
“I know her.”, Magnus said, starting to walk towards that girl, leaving the boys behind with a simple “wait here.”

“My, my”, the girl said with a smirk as Magnus reached her, “look who we have here: Magnus Bane.”  
“Lily”, Magnus exhaled, “which circumstances do I owe this unexpected pleasure?”  
“Camille”, Lilly said, her smirk fading, “i´m here to warn you.”  
“What do you know?”, Magnus frowned.  
“That she doesn´t like the thought of you and Raph having something like a happy end.”, Lilly explained, “she wants to destroy your happiness.”  
“Thought so”, Magnus rubbed his temple in soothing circles, “that sounds like her. But how do you know about all of this?”, he frowned at her again.  
“She tried to hire me.”, Lilly shrugged, “she thought that I would maybe help her since you´ve screwed this job up for me as well back then.”  
“Yeah”, Magnus gave her an apologizing smile, “sorry about that, by the way.”  
“Don´t be. It was the right thing to do. Besides”, she grinned at him, “even though the two of you have pulled a stunt like this, I still like you more than her.”  
“Do you know anything specific?”  
“I believe she´s after a Shermon? Or was his name Shelby?”, Lilly thought out loud, “Shawn?”  
“Simon?”, Magnus offered, wide awake by now. Of course she´s after Simon. That´s what would hurt Raphael the most.  
“Yeah Simon!”, Lilly´s face lit up, “That´s it!”  
Oh god…  
He had to return to the mansion to warn Raphael.  
He wanted to leave but turned around one last time, giving Lilly a questioning look, “How have you found me here? There´s no way you could have known that I´m here today…”  
“That´s my job. And you know that I´m brilliant at doing my job.”, she grinned.  
“Then I guess I should be thankful that you´re on our side.”, Magnus returned the grin.  
“I´m doing it for Raphael. But don´t get used to it.”  
With that he hurried back to Jem and Will. He had to visit Nigel another time, Simon was more important now.  
Camille was way too dangerous to simply ignore Lilly´s warning. 

5 years ago… (part 4)  
“That´s not funny, Camille.”, Magnus shot her a glare.  
“Well, I thought it was.”, Lilly commented from where she stood at Camille´s hotel bar.  
After Magnus had agreed to help Camille with her plan, she had called Lilly Chen, the fourth member of their little newly founded criminal organization and gathered them all in her salon to discuss their plan. An annoying discussion, since Camille had some questionable ideas how to handle things.  
“You don´t count”, Raphael told Lilly, “You once started laughing at a funeral because you had to think about a joke someone had once told you.”  
“It was a funny joke, and a boring funeral”, Lilly shrugged.  
“But killing a guard isn´t a funny joke.”, Raphael pointed out.  
“I can´t believe you´re actually suggesting that, Camille.”, Magnus gave her a look of total disbelief.  
“I´ve told you at the café, haven´t I?”, Raphael commented, “That I don´t like the way Camille is handling things.”  
“But who could´ve thought that this means that my girlfriend is a murderer.”  
“Darling, please”, Camille finally joined in their little conversation, “don´t use that word. Girlfriend…”, she said the word with disgust in her voice, “If anything, then we´re lovers. But nothing more. I´m not a little girl who´s having a crush. I´m a grown up woman who doesn´t care about love. And yes, I have no problem with murdering the one or other guard if that saves me from prison.”  
“You- you are-“, Magnus started, not sure how to respond to this  
“Beautiful, sexy, immensely talented-“, Camille fell him in the word, a confident smile curling up her lips.  
“Dangerous!”, Raphael corrected angrily.  
“Oh darling”, Camille poured herself a martini, “you guys really seem to have no idea.”


	6. Chapter 6

„Dios nos ayude“, Raphael cursed in surrender, “Has everyone in this house lost his goddamn mind?”  
He sank down on one of the plain wooden kitchen chairs, burying his face in his hands, elbows resting on the tabletop.   
“I´m sure Simon knows what he´s doing.”, Tessa tried to lighten up his mood, with no success. But what had she expected? After Magnus and Alec had left to investigate on Camille´s evil plan, Simon had become more and more restless until he couldn´t stood it any longer and had left for the police station to make some phone calls. It was stupid, Tessa had to admit. And she could understand that Raphael was worried like hell. But at the same time she could understand why Simon had to do this and why he had refused Raphael´s offer to come with him. Raphael was still Camille´s prime target after all. Letting him leave the house was like serving him on a silver plate to the woman herself.   
“He´s a good police officer.”, she added as she went to the stove to take the pot with the hot milk from the hearth. She put one of her favorite porcelain cups, the one with the colorful drawings, out of the cupboard and in front of a desperate Raphael on the tabletop and poured him some hot chocolate into the cup. She made herself a cup as well and took a seat next to him.   
Raphael finally looked up from his palms, attracted by the lovely smell of the chocolate and couldn´t help the smile that curled up on the corners of his lips at the sight of it.  
“Do you know the story of this cup?”, he asked her while he lightly traced the colorful figures with his fingertip.  
“No”, Tessa frowned. She had no idea that there was a story behind the cup, even though it should have raised her curiosity that they only had one cup, and not a set.  
“Magnus and I once stole it.”, Raphael explained shortly, seemingly half lost in good memories.  
“What?! Really?”, Tessa laughed. After months of living with her brother in this house, she couldn´t be shocked anymore. But she always loved to listen to the truly interesting stories of her brother´s past. Some of the adventures that he had experienced with Raphael and the others in the past were nearly too good to be true. And sometimes they made her even a little wishful. She would love to experience the same kinds of adventures as well, would love to see all these different parts of the world as well.  
Maybe one day…  
But now was not the time for that. Tessa looked back at the cup. The edge was gilded and the lower half was painted in a soft lilac. In the middle of the cup was the painting of a rooster in bright red. On the left and the right side of the rooster were little flowers in blue and yellow. It was beautifully painted.   
“It´s Russian porcelain.”, Raphael added to his, admittedly very short, explanation. “Magnus and I stole it from a Russian nobleman during our time in St. Petersburg.”  
“But why?”, Tessa asked curious.  
“He was an ass. And we were bored.”, Raphael shrugged.  
“And you are sure that there is nothing more to this story that you´re hiding from me?”, Tessa asked suspicious, even though she was sure that she already knew the answer.  
“Of course there is, angelito.”, Raphael chuckled, “but this is a story that I´ll tell you over a glass of wine someday. Or a bourbon. Yeah, preferably a bourbon.”  
“That bad, huh?”, she laughed.  
“You´re brother is involved in this one, so yeah, that bad.”, he joined in her laughter. That was until the ringing of the telephone echoed through the house. Tessa noticed how Raphael stiffened in his chair, his posture tensing more and more with every ring until he nearly jumped up and ran to the phone.  
He picked up the phone, expecting that either Alec, Magnus or Simon would be on the other end with news for them about Camille. What he didn´t expect was:  
“Mon cher Raphael. Bonjour.”  
It wasn´t hard to guess who was on the other end of the line. Raphael would have recognized this voice everywhere.  
“Camille.”, he bit out, not even trying to hide the disgust in his voice, “Why do you call?”

Magnus pinched the bridge of his nose, letting out a loud sigh. He was on the middle of the Pont Notre-Dame, one of the large arch bridges that spans over the seine. Not far from him, surrounded by the square of Jean le XXIIIiéme would be the cathedral Notre-dame. A truly amazing church. But Magnus feared that god wasn´t on their side anymore. Not if they would really do this. He sighed again, looking at the Seine, wishing that its depths could wash away his problems and take him away to a better, happier place. But it was only that: wishful thinking. Because in reality, he had no one who could help him. He was alone. He had to do this alone.  
“You´ve vanished very fast, Lord criminal.”, a smooth elegant voice with a certain accent cut him out of his daydreams. Magnus looked to the side, where the young Spanish guy leaned against the ceiling of the bridge, “Don´t tell me you´ve already gotten cold feet.”  
Magnus scoffed at that. “You don´t actually want to tell me that you´re happy with her plan.”  
“Why shouldn´t I be?”, Raphael shrugged, studying Magnus´s features, “After all, it will bring me a lot of money. And it will bring you a lot of money, as well. So why so upset?”  
“How about the fact that our plan already includes at least three murders. And Camille had only told us the half of it. God knows what she has planned for the second half.”, he bit out, not caring to hide his disapproval. “Besides, I don´t need money.”  
“Well, that is a luxury that not all of us have.”, Raphael said grimly. He surely wouldn´t let himself getting criticized by some spoiled rich brat. “If you´re not doing this for the money, then why have you agreed to join our robbery?”, he asked. He couldn´t help it, but he was actually curious about the Lord´s motivations. He wanted to know what this guy was up to.  
“Because I don´t want to lose her. I can´t lose her.”, the Lord blurted out, seemingly desperate, “but now…”  
“That doesn´t sound like love to me.”, Raphael commented, feeling a little sorry for the guy, “more like an addiction.”  
“You´re probably right.”, the Lord sighed, then added: “no. Not just probably. You´re definitely right.” He paused for a long while, not saying a single thing to Raphael and Raphael was already wondering if he should say something to cut him out off his thoughts but the Lord looked back at him, straight into his eyes with a seriousness that Raphael hadn´t expected in this moment.  
“I shouldn´t help her. And neither should you.”  
It was all he said and it was enough because the expression in his eyes told Raphael everything he needed to know.   
“I have no other choice.”, Raphael tried to explain, not sure why he was even trying to justify his decisions in the first place.   
Maybe he wasn´t as convinced about the plan as he thought he was. Oh Screw it! Of course he wasn´t convinced. If he was honest with himself than he hated her stupid plan.  
“One of my uncles murdered my little sister when we were both still children. And my father covered up what he did. He wanted me to play along, to help him with his lies, so I left my family and started living on my own. I´m rather alone for the rest of my life than betraying my little sister. There´s always a choice.”  
Raphael´s eyes widened in surprise. He definitely hadn´t expected this. At least he knew now why the Lord was so addicted to Camille and ready to go to such lengths to not lose her and be alone again. But maybe he was wrong about the `spoiled rich kid´ part.   
“What do you have in mind?”, he asked, surprised about himself.  
“We´ll stop her, even bring her into jail if necessary. I won´t let her murder innocent people.”  
Raphael nodded slowly, his thoughts racing. If Camille would find out about their betrayal…  
“I´m in.”, he finally said, letting out a loud put-upon sigh, “But do you really think that betraying her is a smart idea?”, he asked.  
“Nope.”, the Lord – Magnus- answered with a mischievous grin, popping the `P´.  
“Good.”, Raphael laughed, “I´d actually be concerned about your sanity if you did.”, he returned the grin before turning serious again. “How do we wanna do this?”


	7. Chapter 7

“Camille.”, he bit out, not even trying to hide the disgust in his voice, “Why do you call?”  
“Can´t I have a little chat with a vieil ami?”, she purred, her voice sweet like poison.  
“We´re not friends.”, Raphael told her through gritted teeth.  
“That´s really hurtful. Don´t be so mean, Raphael.”, she said with false hurt in her voice.  
“Sais the devil in chanel”, Raphael commented.  
“Why are you angry with me, cheri?”, she asked, the poisonous sweetness returning to her voice, “Have you forgotten that you betrayed ME? Not vice versa.”  
The sweetness turned into anger, a tone in her voice that made Raphaels skin crawl and caused his hackles to stand up.  
“How about the fact that you want to crash my wedding and ruin it?”, it was more of a statement then an actual question but he regretted it immediately because all he got in response was a loud amused laughter. Raphael had to swallow hard. THIS was not good. It was actually far from good.  
“May I ask what you think that I want to do? Stealing your wedding cake? Making one of the little flower girls cry? Oh PLEASE, Raphael. You should know me better, by now, don´t you think? I´m not so stupid to crash a wedding where half of the guests have a brand and handcuffs with them.”  
She still seemed to be amused.  
Raphael just started to feel sick.  
Was it just him or did the walls start to spin around?  
But he forced himself to concentrate on the phone call. He needed to find out what Camille was really up to.  
“So what?”, he asked, still fighting against the sick feeling, “Do you wanna break into our house instead? Because my dear I can assure you that if you break into our home, the police men you try to avoid will be the least of your worries. In fact, they will probably be your only hope.” Raphael hoped that he sounded as dangerous as he wanted to, but he wasn´t so sure. Somehow he felt dizzy, and his feet seemed to wave under him. It costed him all of his strength to stay on his feet.  
“And why should I want to steal Magnus´ silverware? I can assure you that I have no intentions of ever entering your little shelter for crazy strays that you and Magnus call `home´.”, There was something in her voice that made Raphael feel unease. And why was he still feeling so sick?  
“Rapha- Rap- Raphael!”, he heard Tessas weak voice calling to him out of the kitchen, followed by a clinking sound, as if something had fallen to the ground, followed by a dull bang, as if SOMEONE had fallen to the ground…  
Tessa!  
Raph wanted to call for her, to shout her name, but everything he was able to utter was: “Tes- Teph- Te.. T”  
He wanted to run into the kitchen to look after her but his legs refused to move. He felt like the ground below him was wavering as if he was standing in the middle of a stormy sea but maybe it was simply him who was wavering instead.  
What was wrong with him?!  
“Wha- Whu…”, he tried, but without success, the dizzy feeling in his head becoming stronger and stronger with every second passing by. And he could hear the amused diabolic laughter through the handset.  
“What is wrong, Raphael mon cheri?”, it was hard not to notice the only half-hidden amusement in her sweet voice. “Don´t you feel well?”  
“Wh-“, The world in front of his eyes became blurry, as if he would live in a certain painting of Edvard Munch. And like the guy in Munch´s painting, he would like to scream as well now.  
“Are you sick? Did you eat or drink something wrong? Maybe milk?”, the way she said it was alarming. And hasn´t the hot chocolate tasted a little strange? “He´s really cute, you know? Your little boyfriend, oh pardonne-moi, fiancé. Too bad it won´t last. At least not as long as I´m around and…”  
Raphael couldn´t help it… he couldn´t fight it any longer. The already blurred world around him turned black as he fell to the ground as well: unconscious.

5 years ago… (part 6)  
Their next day was already supposed to be pretty eventful. They still had to make some errands for their big robbery, ironically this meant that they had to do one little robbery today. But Magnus simply looked at it as a practice round, hopefully without any deaths. But considering the fact that Camille had refused to help them on their little illegal shopping tour, he had high hopes that everything would turn out well. They still had to play along in order to fool Camille and trick her. That was why he was now going to do a little burglary.  
As it turned out, there were only a handful of people who had the highest security level in the Louvre and thus the corresponding keys that they needed to get into the room with the Egyptian exhibition.  
They couldn´t simply break into the mansion of the museum director because the loss of his keys would attract too much attention and also alarm the security guards. They also couldn´t simply steal the keys from one of the security guards because- well, they simply weren´t so stupid to do that. But the leader of the Egyptian expedition had a key as well, considering the fact that she had been the one who had found most of the pieces of the exhibition. And lucky for them, said leader was on another expedition right now, back in Egypt.  
That meant that her keys were now - lonely and unwatched – waiting in her little apartment for them to steal them.  
It nearly seemed too good to be true.  
And that was why he was currently waiting in a little side street for Raphael and Lily to show up. Even though he could imagine more unobtrusive things than standing directly in front of the professors (apparently, the leaders name was professor Clavem) house. Especially since he was already standing there for quite a while now.  
Magnus was already starting to wonder if they would show up at all or if Raphael maybe had told Camille everything about his plan to bring her into jail and they had fled to murder somewhere else, when he heard a loud pleading voice coming from the side.  
“Por favor, Lily, te implore”, Raphael and Lily came towards him. Lily looked quite amused. She wore a not so subtle mini dress with feathers that were swinging around her knees with every of her movements and sparkling dance shoes. Even though he thought that it was an inconvenient outfit for a burglary, Magnus had to admit that he loved her style. Besides, who was he to judge. After all, his outfit was far from being inconspicuous as well. Raphael next to her wore a plain elegant black suit. Magnus started to believe that plain dark suits were the only things the boy had in his wardrobe. What a shame…  
His hair was ruffled by the wind, dark curls falling into his forehead and he had a pained expression on his face.  
“These nicknames are getting worse and worse.”, he pointed out but Lily just pouted at him.  
“What nicknames?”, Magnus asked with an amused grin, trying to play cool. He and Raphael couldn´t let themselves getting caught and he had a feeling that Lily was pretty clever when it came to seeing through people.  
If she would get suspicious and tell Camille about it then… NO! It´s best if he doesn´t think about something like that at all. Just playing cool.  
“Better don´t ask.”, Raphael grumbled, before turning to Magnus, “there´s this one monk that works at Notre Dame: his name is brother Zachariah and Lily finds him oh-so-hot and now she is always calling him by stupid nicknames that are, by the way, very inappropriate for a servant of god. Not to mention offensive.”  
“I can´t help it”, Lily shrugged, “once you go zacchariah, you never go backariah.” She explained with a grin and Magnus couldn´t stop the burst of laughter that escaped his mouth while Raphael just rolled his eyes and let out a pained yelp. Lily just grinned triumphantly.  
“I like this one.”, she proclaimed, pointing at Magnus with her index finger. She was wearing sparkling nail polish that suited to her shoes.  
“Sooo”, Magnus tried to change the topic after he finally managed to regain his composure, “how do we get in there?”  
Before Raphael had the chance to answer him, Lily jumped forward and went on her knees in front of the entrance door, taking something out of her purse.  
It flashed brightly in the shine of the light.  
“Should I ask why you´re carrying a knife with you in your purse?”, Magnus frowned, looking at the weapon in her hand with which she started working on the keyhole.  
“It´s a dagger, actually.”, Raphael corrected him, “And no, you shouldn´t.” he turned to Lily, “Don´t you wanna use a picklock?”  
“No. I like my dagger, thanks.”, Lily murmured, highly concentrated on the task at hand. Her brows were furrowed as she tried to work the lock open, “and I have a dagger with me because that is part of my job.”  
“Your job?”, Magnus asked skeptically. “what are you? An assassin?”, the question was meant as a joke but the reactions that he got from the two others were everything but funny.  
“Wait!”, he looked at the petite girl with wide eyes, “You´re an assassin?!”  
Lily just looked up at him from where she still knelt on the ground, a nearly bored expression on her face.  
“We know each other for not even two whole days. Why are you so shocked?”  
“I just thought that I would get a normal friend for once.”, Magnus tried to explain, not quite sure what to respond.  
“What do you mean `for once´”, Raphael was looking at him with raised eyebrows.  
Lily on the other hand seemed to think about something totally different, “What do you mean `friend´?”  
“Uhm… aren´t we friends?“, Magnus asked reluctantly.  
“Just kidding”, Lily grinned at him wile she got back on her feet, “of course we are! As I said: I like you.”  
She turned to the door, giving it a kick and it flew wide open.  
“What are we still waiting for?”, she asked, grinning, “Let´s go, friends.” She cheered as she walked into the foreign apartment.  
“Who said that I´m part of this friendship as well?!” Raphael called after her, before indicating Magnus to follow him into the building. “Dios, Lily!”  
That was going to be a long day, Magnus thought as he put a foot over the doorstep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Inspired by several prompts and a quote from "the Land I lost" (“once you go zacchariah, you never go backariah.”


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so this chapter is more like a filler before we come to a lot of plot (angst and fluff) in the next chapters…;)

There was a crunching sound, as if something would have broken off the car and Magnus had to cling on the seat. He had always thought that he would have a wild driving style but it seemed to be heavenly compared to the way Will was driving when he was in a hurry.  
“That was a stop sign, Will!”, Jem reprimanded him but Will just waved him off before he took a sharp turn that nearly caused Jem and Magnus to fall off their seats.   
“We´re the police, we don´t have to care for such trivial things as street signs.”, he declared, taking another sharp turn, nearly colliding with another car whose driver was vigorously and angrily honking and shouting at them.  
“We´re not the police, William.”, Magnus declared, not as calm as he wanted to sound, “we´re only working for the police.”  
“Means you have to drive more carefully.”, Jem added.  
“Oh, I´ve never said that. Neither have I meant it that way.”, Magnus corrected, sitting up straight again after tumbling wildly through the car. “I actually appreciate your driving style.”  
“You can´t be serious.”, Jem looked over the seatback at him with a look of total disbelief covering his features.  
“We have an emergency and he´s bringing us home fast.”, Magnus shrugged.  
“Fast, yes. But also alive?”, Jem raised a brow as Will came to an abrupt stop, causing them all to fall forward.  
“We´re there.”, Will announced and Magnus had to realize that they have already arrived in front of his great mansion. That was really fast.   
“Next time I´m tying myself to the seat”, Jem muttered, as Magnus jumped out of the car and started heading up the stairs. He pushed the door open and stopped, not able to move any step further as his eyes fell to the body that was laying in front of him on the ground. Motionless.  
“RAPHAEL!”

5 years ago… (part 7)  
They were sneaking through the apartment.   
It was a normal middle-class apartment of Paris. Small and sparsely furnished. It actually didn´t seem like it was inhabited at all. The only thing that made it look a little bit like a home were some picture frames that stood on a dusty dresser. It was really not hard to see that the professor was most of her time on expeditions. Her apartment had more similarities with a boxroom than with a real home. Things were lying around everywhere: documents were piled up on the coffee table. The stacks were extremely skew and it seemed that one of the stacks must have already fallen over because the floor around the table was full of scattered documents as well.  
There were still some dishes (mostly coffee cups) waiting in the sink to be washed and a pile of clothes laid crumpled on the sofa. You could almost think that they weren´t the first ones to break into this apartment.   
But somehow Magnus couldn´t help but staring at the black-and-white photographs in the wooden frames. They seemed to be the most personal thing in here.  
It was odd…  
Magnus was truly not a saint and honestly, he wasn´t even sure if he wouldn´t burst into flames if he would ever enter a church but somehow this felt wrong. Like, terribly wrong.   
This was far from being the first illegal thing that he has ever done but it felt like they would break into the professors personal space. This was not a museum, this was HER home. How would she feel if she would ever find out that someone has been in here while she was gone, sneaking through her stuff, her clothes, her cups, her photographs?   
“Te eves palido”, a voice asked behind him, tearing him out of his thoughts, “Are you ok?”, Raphael gave him a questioning look, eyebrows raised.   
Magnus would lie if he would say that Raphael hadn´t startled him. But to be fair: why had he to creep up at him so silently at all?  
“God, Raphael!”, Magnus cursed under his breath, “Why do you have to creep up like that?”  
“Curiosity?”, Raphael shrugged.  
What a great answer…  
“Booyyysss”, Lily cheered from where she was rummaging through the piles of documents, “I have the keys.” She triumphantly raised her arm in the air and Magnus could see that she was holding something tiny and shiny in her hand, the keys tinkling like a wind chime with each of her movements.  
She came towards them with elated steps and threw herself around Raphaels neck. Raphael just let out an annoyed sound of protest but didn´t resist any further. Magnus could even swear that he was rolling his eyes fondly at her.  
“We should go. Quiero dejar aqui.”, Raphael announced. And Magnus had to admit that he was right. The longer they stayed here, the greater the risk to be caught, even if the professor wouldn´t return home any time soon. Better not taking any risk.  
That was when they heard the sound of the front door opening, followed by several footsteps. The three exchanged some panicked looks.  
Someone was in the apartment with them.  
They were not alone…


	9. Chapter 9

“Raphael?”  
“Raphael!”  
Magnus knelt on the ground, next to his friend, slightly bended over him, his hands on both shoulders, trying to shake him awake.  
But without any success. Raphael wasn´t moving at all.  
In fact, he wasn´t even breathing. Or was he? At least, Magnus couldn´t see his chest rising, and he couldn´t feel any heartbeat either.  
As Magnus searched for his pulse once more (again: without success) he had to notice that his hands were shaking. He closed his eyes, trying to calm down, but when he looked back at his shaky hand at Raphaels neck, he saw tiny drops. As he reached up, slightly touching his own cheek he had to notice that it was wet. When had he started crying?  
He tried to concentrate. If he couldn´t regain his composure he should at least try to think clearly.  
He couldn´t see any wounds. And there wasn´t blood either. So no bullet wound or stick injury. This meant that he had probably been poisoned. Which meant that they simply had to find the antidote. So there was still hope for Raph, even though he couldn´t find any heartbeat right now.  
After all, Magnus was no expert, right? He was no doctor, so maybe he has simply done something wrong… that was possible, wasn´t it?  
Than his thoughts expanded:  
Raphael was lying on the ground with the telephone still in his hand. Meaning that he must have been speaking with someone when – whatever it was – happened. So maybe there was a witness who could help them with useful information. Or maybe there was no witness at all… but this would only be the case if…  
Camille.  
Magnus felt an undescribable anger rising in his chest.  
Camille would pay for this. He wouldn´t let her get away this time, he swore to himself as he looked down at his friend.  
But why was he lying on the floor at all? He wasn´t alone at the mansion. Tessa was supposed to wait with him, so was Simon. So why hadn´t they found him? It was impossible that they wouldn´t have noticed what happened to Raphael. That means unless…  
Oh god.  
Magnus could feel the color leaving his face.  
That was when Will and Jem finally – after what felt like an eternity but were actually only one or two minutes – came after him.  
“Tian a”, Jem whispered as he looked down on a distraught Magnus who was kneeling next to a motionless Raphael on the ground, “What happened?”  
But Magnus was just staring up at them with wide eyes as realization started to flood over him.  
“Tessa.”, he managed to bring out, “Where are Tessa and Simon?”  
And the very same moment he said her name the second time, Will and Jem nearly simultaneously started running through the mansion. Jem headed up the stairs, always taking two steps at one while Will was running into the library (knowing very well that this was Tessas favorite room) before continuing his search (after not finding her there) by running towards the kitchen, always calling out for her.  
“Tessa? Tess? Tessa? Te-“, he fell silent the very same moment he reached the open kitchen entrance and Magnus couldn´t help but staring as Will carried a motionless Tessa in his arms out of the kitchen and towards them.  
“I´ll bring her into the salon.”, he announced, his voice barely audible and Magnus nodded, not able to say another word. He looked down at his friend, deciding that he would bring him into the salon as well.  
As they carefully placed them down on the oversized couches, Jem came in.  
“I couldn´t fin-“, he broke off, stopping in the middle of his movements as his eyes fell on Tessa. She was lying on the red velvet of the couches upholstery, her brown curls covering the whole pillow. They somehow reminded Magnus of a gloriole. And the way Tessa was lying there, with her long dress out of light-blue satin, seemingly sleeping peacefully (if it would only simply be that way) and with her curls surrounding her head like a gloriole, she really looked like an angel to him.  
Jem slowly started moving again, his eyes fixed on Tessas face until he sank on his knees next to the couch.  
Magnus tried to concentrate. He needed to come up with a plan how to fix this. But was there something to fix at all? Or were they really… NO! This was ridiculous! He wouldn´t allow himself to have such thoughts. He couldn´t. But it were the only kinds of thoughts he had in this moment. Besides them, his mind was blank like an unwritten page.  
He had to call Catarina.  
He needed a doctor. Someone who was an expert.  
They needed to get help for the two of them. Preferably in a hospital.  
And they needed to find Simon.  
They had to find out where he was. Why wasn´t he in the mansion with Tess and Raphael? Has Camille kidnapped him? But why would she do that? It wouldn´t make any sense. On the other hand: many of the things Camille did or has done didn´t make any sense to him. He just…  
Magnus heard the ringing of the doorbell. Was it just him or was it louder than normal?  
“I´m on it.”, he said, getting up. Will and Jem didn´t react at all.  
He went to open the door, still trapped in a state somewhere between shock, panic and total disbelief.  
As he entered the entrance hall his eyes fell on the red telephone that was still lying on the ground where he had found Raphael. He stood still for a short moment, simply staring down at the small apparatus before returning to his task.  
As he opened the door, he looked at the shocked faces of the detective inspector and his police constable.  
“Magnus. What happened?”  
Yeah… what happened?

5 years ago… (part 8)  
In one moment, Magnus was staring in the direction of the other room, where the sounds came from, in the next he was pulled behind some ugly curtains by Raphael.  
So this was their current situation: They were a Lord, a thief and an assassin, all hiding behind some ugly curtains in the apart of a professor in which they´ve broken in because they will probably be caught by whoever it is those footsteps were approaching right now.  
This could also be the beginning of a very bad joke.  
But the most interesting thing was, that out of an unexplainable reason, all Magnus could think about right now was how terribly ugly these curtains were.  
Seriously, they were a real pain in the eyes.  
A strange kind of orange with purple and blue ornaments on it together with some green highlights. That combination was too much, even for him. He had to look away.  
He looked over to Lily and Raphael, just to realize that Lily has pulled her knife -sorry, dagger – out of her purse, seemingly ready to use it.  
“What the hell are you doing there?”, he hissed, causing Raphael to look over at Lily as well, his eyes clearly widening as they fell on the shiny object in her hands.  
“Dios!”, he hissed, his posture tensing even more, “Lily what is this supposed to become?”  
“I´m saving us.”, Lily glared back at them, an expression in her eyes that Magnus hadn´t seen there before. If he couldn´t believe that she was a professional assassin before, he could believe it now. The glare was murderous, causing him to wince slightly. If there would be any more space behind this instrument of torture that calls himself home furnishing, he would have probably taken a full step back.  
“You can´t just go out there and kill that guy! Imposible.”, Raphael stared back, unimpressed by her evil glare.  
“Explain why.”, Lily answered and Magnus realized that she was serious about it. She really didn´t knew why she shouldn´t kill that person.  
“I have an idea.”, Magnus interfered, causing the two of them to stare at him in total disbelief. “I know what to do.”  
They couldn´t kill that guy, but maybe they could trick him. He was already a thief and a burglar, so why not adding conman to the list as well?  
“And what would this be?”, Raphael asked with raised eyebrows, clearly startled by the fact that Magnus was undoing the buttons of his shirt until it was opened completely.  
“I´m having an affair.”, he grinned, even though he didn´t feel like grinning at all, and made a step forward, only to be stopped by Raphael gripping his wrist tightly.  
“Have you turned totally insane now?”, he hissed, “To loco!”  
“Where´s the point in betraying Camille if we let Lily murder some innocent fool now?”, he argued back, not caring that Lily was standing right next to them. He just hoped that she was too distraught to actually care for their argument. "Trust me, I have a plan."  
If he could make that guy believe that he was the professors lover waiting for her, than he would have a credible explanation for why he was in her apartment and he had a reason to send that guy away. That means if it would work out the way he hoped it to do. Of course it could also end in a total disaster, depending on who it was he met out there. Please let it be the first one. It simply had to work. He freed himself out of Raphaels grip and stepped into the room and what he saw there shocked him more than he thought.  
Or better: who he saw there.


	10. Chapter 10

“Magnus, what happened?”, he could feel Alec´s worried eyes roaming over his face, studying his features. “Magnus? Hey, Magnus?” he tried again when Magnus didn´t responded.  
What happened?   
Camille was after Simon.  
Camille had poisoned Raphael and Tessa and now Magnus wasn´t even sure if they were still alive or if they were… NO! he couldn´t allow himself to have such thoughts.  
Magnus would love to freak out but he only felt numb.  
But more importantly: He had to explain all of this to Simon now.  
So what happened? How was he supposed to explain THIS?!  
“Raphael is…”, he started but didn´t get to finish his sentence before Simon was already storming past him into the mansion.  
He felt Alec´s hand on his shoulder, a reassuring gesture before it was wandering down, softly caressing his upper arm.  
“What happened?”, he asked once more.  
And that´s how it came that Magnus was sitting together with Alec outside his mansion on the top of the stairs on their favorite place, talking about the day, trying to fully understand the day and everything that had happened and discussing what to do next.  
Even though he had no idea what to do next. But he knew that he had to bring Tessa and Raph to a doctor. Luckily, Catarina was already on her way to them with an armada of ambulances in tow. And he needed to stop Camille.  
They talked for a while when they heard loud voices coming from inside. The others were seemingly discussing wildly about something.  
“I´m going inside, making sure that no one of them is doing something too stupid. Are you coming with me?”, Alec asked, giving him a soft smile.  
“Go ahead”, Magnus smiled back, even though it was a brittle smile, “I´ll come after you in a few seconds.”  
“Okay.”, Alec smiled, his eyes studying him once more. He attempted to go inside but stopped in the doorframe, turning towards him once more “Hey Magnus.”, he said, causing Magnus to look up at him, “Everything will be fine.”  
And strangely, Magnus believed him.  
As Alec left to look for the others Magnus turned his view back on the street ahead, letting out a loud put upon sigh before burying his face in his hands.  
Next to him, he could hear the birds chirping and the branches were rustling in the wind and somewhere down the street, he could hear children laughing. But Magnus didn´t care.  
And then he could hear the shrill sirens of the ambulances. Initially still very quiet, not more than a breath of wind, a little whisper in his ear. But it didn´t last long until the sound became deafeningly loud. And Magnus noticed that he did care.

And that was how Magnus ended up on the outside stairs of the hospital entrance.  
Raphael and Tessa were still alive, gratefully. But their heartbeats were abnormally slow and weak. As were their breathing. That was also why Magnus couldn´t find a pulse. Just that the doctors had no idea how something like that was even possible. They only knew that they had to stop that subfunction of their hearts and lungs because otherwise they would die for real. They were under treatment right now, somewhere in the emergency department, but the doctors didn´t wanted to make any kind of statement about their situation in this moment, which Magnus posted to be an additional bad sign.   
They were really running out of time.  
His throat felt dry and he was shaking, the only thing he was able to do was leaving the others behind, stumbling out of the hospital and nearly falling down the stairs just to sit down on the lowest of them and watching the incoming people with empty eyes.  
He couldn´t say how long he´d been sitting there, but the sun had already started to go down, throwing long shadows over the area, when someone sat next to him.  
“I hope you know how much you mean to me. I´m sitting on this dirty stair for you.”  
Magnus looked up and directly into Lily´s dark eyes.  
“What are you doing here? Do I want to know how you´ve found me again?”, he asked quietly.  
“No. And I´m looking for you, Mags.”, she said casually. “Besides, you do know it´s rude to simply run away without saying goodbye, don´t you?”, Lilly pouted, her hands crossed in front of her chest. She tilted her head slightly, “You look like someone murdered your cat?”   
“Does that really surprise you?”, he nearly snapped, before sighing once more. “Sorry… How much do you know about what happened? Do you know if they found out how to help Tess and Raph?”  
“Well, I have found out that except this Catarina- person, all employees of this hospital are personifications of incompetence.”, she scuffed.  
“So they still have nothing?”  
“Nothing…”, Lily confirmed.  
“Where´s Camille?”, he asked, changing the topic.  
“What?”, Lily blinked bewildered, seemingly taken aback by that change.  
“You´ve had contact with Camille, so you probably know where I can find her. Where is she, Lily?”  
“I don´t know.”, she answered thoughtfully, “I only have her number in case I would change my mind.”  
“Her number?”, Magnus was fully awake by now. This was a trace, a connection to her. Something he could use.  
“Mags? What-“  
“Magnus!”, Magnus turned around to Alec, who was standing in the doorframe, “Come fast. You want to hear this.” He said, before he noticed Lily´s presence.  
“Who is this?”, he asked, pointing at her.  
Well, good question… how do you explain to the law enforcer you´re not only dating but also working with that you´re befriends with an assassin?

5 years ago… (part 9)  
“Magnus?!”, the man in front of him said in a mix of disbelief, surprise and despair.  
“Well, hello old friend.”, Magnus greeted him in his usual cheerful tone, but frowned anyways.  
When Ragnor came to Paris to look for his friend, he had already mentally prepared himself for the worse - simply because nothing good ever happened when Magnus was alone in a huge city full of possibilities for catastrophic behavior – but he really hadn´t expected to find this:  
His best friend in an apartment that wasn´t his, in a middle class neighborhood far below his normally over-luxurious standards, and over all only partially dressed.  
Ragnor really didn´t want to think about what it was that Magnus was doing here.  
He was pretty sure that things couldn´t become worse… and that was when the really beautiful and unique (he thought) curtains opened and two persons stepped next to Magnus.  
A young Spanish guy in a dark suit who eyed him suspicially and a petite Asian girl in a party dress who seemed to be bored and who was – for whatever reason- playing with a knife as if it was a normal toy.  
“Magnus”, he began, giving his friend a reproachful look, “what is going on he- you know what? Forget it! I´m pretty sure I don´t want to know!”  
“It´s really not what you think, old friend.”, Magnus raised his hands placatory, giving him a sheepish grin.  
“You´re always saying that.”, Ragnor insisted, “But most of the time it´s actually even worse than anything I could even imagine.”  
“Now you´re getting rude.” Magnus pouted. The two next to him just seemed to be confused by their conversation.

One hour later, they were sitting in professor Clavems living room, trying to somehow explain the whole situation to Ragnor. Well, not the whole situation considering the fact that Lily was still with them and they couldn´t risk to be busted.  
The fact that they were still in the apartment they´ve broken in didn´t make the whole situation better. More the opposite. Because the longer they stayed, the higher was the risk of being caught (means: by someone else than a grumpy English man who was already used to Magnus´ truly numerous questionable life choices).  
Raphael sat on the floor next to the couch, surrounded by papers, hand-written notes and torn-out book pages while he gave the English man an once-over. It was something he always did: studying people, analyzing them. Simply because he needed to know with what kind of person he was dealing with. It was important when you worked in his branch of industry, otherwise you wouldn´t survive very long. And Raph was good when it came to analyzing people. Really good, actually. He could always see through their façades. And that´s what was disturbing him SO damn much about Magnus. Because no matter how hard he tried, he couldn´t see through his façade. He was unreadable to him. So Raphael had no idea if he could truly trust him. And it was a long time since Raphael had trusted someone simply because he trusted him. That was a luxury he couldn´t afford anymore. But it seemed that he had no other choice when it came to Magnus. So the only question that Raphael really wanted to have answered was: should, or better: could he trust Magnus?  
“So to summarize that:”, the British man, Raphael recalled that his name was Ragnor, said, ripping him out of his thoughts, “your girlfriend-“  
“Not my girlfriend”, Magnus insisted, “She insists that we´re only lovers and I don´t want anything from her anymore, so… I guess that `your ex-lover´ would be the right term.”  
“Your ex-lover”, Ragnor began anew with a sigh, “who you´ve always called your girlfriend and who you´re in love with is a murderous international art thief. And these two-“ he pointed over to Raphael and Lily, “are actually another art thief and an assassin and this”, he waved with his hand through the air, “is an apartment you´ve broken in to steal a key because you´ve thought it would be a good idea to join Camille-straight-out-of-hell-Belcourts little club of criminals?”  
“Exactly”, Magnus grinned and considering the English mans reaction, Raphael wouldn´t be surprised if he would jump out of the window in desperation every second.   
“I have a question!”, Lilly announced, raising her hand in the air. She was sitting on one of the commodes, letting her feet dangling in the air as if she was sitting on a swing.  
“Lily, you don´t need to raise your hand, this is a crime scene, not a school.”, Magnus said, noticing very well Ragnor´s reproachful look that said: `yes, because you turned it into a crime scene by breaking in´, “what do you want to know?”  
“Oh”, she lowered her hand, letting it rest in her lap, “ I was just curious what you meant back then?”  
“What exactly are you talking about, Lily?”, Raphael asked, “You have to be a little bit more specific. That guy talks a lot.”  
“Hey!”, Magnus threw in, even though he had to admit that Raphael was wright.  
“I mean when you said that you two would betray Camille. What have you meant with that?”  
Oh crap…


	11. Chapter 11

They were all gathered in a small sitting room, that was less then comfortable. There were white tiles on the ground, suiting to the white walls (a little bit too much white for Magnus´ taste), some crunchy wooden chairs in the middle and over them hang a flickering lightbulb. The whole terrible atmosphere was perfected by the strong smell of disinfectants that was everywhere in the air.   
Magnus had taken seat on one of the crunchy chairs, hoping that it wouldn´t collapse under him. Catarina stepped to his side, one of her self-knitted blankets in her hand that she placed carefully over his shoulders, lightly patting his back.  
Magnus sighed.   
Catarina wasn´t the first one today who has tried to make the whole situation better with a blanket, but at least, this was one of her good blankets and not one of the old outworn hospitals blankets that Ragnor had gotten for him earlier and that Magnus had eyed suspiciously.   
“Thanks”, he gave Cat a soft smile, before turning his gaze into the round, “but why do you guys have to keep trying putting blankets over me?”  
“Because you´re in shock?”, Ragnor answered with a raised eyebrow. He had mistrusted the chairs too much and was leaning against one of the walls instead.  
“I´m not in shock.”, Magnus insisted only half-convinced. “And even if I would be, I wouldn´t need a blanket. I would need bourbon.”  
Ragnor rolled his eyes, before turning his attention to Lily, “And what is she doing here?”  
“Missed me?”, Lily grinned.  
“Definitely not!”  
“How quickly you dismiss our deep friendship.”, Lily said with false hurt.  
“Wait?”, Alec interrupted them, “You know her?”  
Magnus hadn´t answered his question yet so his detective inspector still had no idea that he was having a little chat with a professional killer right now.  
And Magnus really prefered if it stays that way.  
“Speaking of knowing things”, Magnus threw in before Ragnor had the chance to answer the detective, “Have you found out something new?”  
“Well”, Catarina started, “it seems that the poison isn´t only slowing down the functions of Tessas and Raphs lungs and heart, but also of their whole bodies. The doctors say that they´re in some kind of paralysis.”  
“A paralysis, huh?”, Magnus said more to himself than to anybody in this room, “anything else? Did something happen on the station? Do the police know something?”  
“There was a double-murder”, Simon said. He was sitting towards him, also with one of Cats blankets over his shoulders. Just that he really looked like he could use one. His eyes were red and he seemed to be as pale as a ghost, “but that´s not our main problem right now.”  
“A double-murder?”, Magnus raised his head, immediately back to senses, “Where? What happened?”  
“Is that all you care about right now?!”, Simon asked in disbelief, “Solving another case?”  
“Simon”, Magnus tried again, his voice calm, “What happened?”  
Simon let out a loud put-upon sigh. “It was a double-murder in chinatown. The owner of a sushi bar and his chef. I don´t know more. I´ve just heard about it when I was at the precinct earlier. Why?”  
Magnus mind was racing. This couldn´t be a coincidence, could it? Besides, the symptoms would be the same…  
He turned his head to Lily, who had the same expression of realization on her face.  
“What do you say? Puffer fish?”, he asked.  
“Puffer fish.”, she confirmed with a triumphantly grin.  
“You´re right.”, Cat commented with excitement, almost cheering, “I´m going to tell the others.”, and with that she stormed out of the room.  
“Okay…”, Alec said slowly, “What have I missed?”  
Cat had seemingly been the only one of the presents that had understood Magnus and Lillys little conversation, because there were a lot of questioning faces looking at him right now.  
“Tetrodotoxin.”, Magnus said, noticing that this explanation wasn´t very helpful, so he added, “Parts of the puffer fish are poisonous. They contain tetrodotoxin, that´s a neurotoxin that paralyzes the body of the poisoned one.”  
“And where do you find a puffer fish in New York?” Lilly added.  
“In a sushi restaurant.”, Alec concluded, realization hitting him as well now, “this tetro-anything, is there-“  
“There is an antidote for it, yes darling.”, Magnus smiled, “Means that Tessa and Raph should be better very soon.”  
A wave of relief spread through the room, immediately lighting up the tensed mood.  
But even if that meant that Tessa and Raph would be fine again any time soon, it also meant something else…  
It meant that Camille had murdered two innocent people just because she wanted to ruin Raphs wedding. It was enough. That had to stop. SHE needed to be stopped.  
Magnus leaned over to Lily, whispering in her ear: “I need to talk to you for a second. In private.”  
Lily gave him a confused look, but nodded anyways and left the room. Magnus was following behind her.  
They arrived in a small corridor, which was as uncomfortable as the sitting room, but Magnus didn´t care.  
“You need to help me find Camille.”  
“And what then, Mags?”, Lily leaned against the wall, arms crossed in front of her chest, a confused look in her eyes as she mustered him.  
“I´ll make sure she never hurts one of my beloved ones ever again.”

5 years ago… (part 10)

“We… um… well…”, Magnus stuttered. Not one of his best comebacks.  
Lilly eyed them both suspiciously, then sighed.   
“Will I end up in prison with this?”, she finally breathed out.  
“But of course not!”, Raphael exclaimed, “Tu eres familia. You´re part of my family! I would never betray my family.”  
“Promise?”, she asked. By now she sounded even a bit insecure, her voice low.  
“Prometido.”, he assured with a smile, “I will always protect you. Especially from going to jail.”  
“Well”, Lilly jumped off the commode, her heels making a loud clackering sound when she hit the floor, “Then I´ll act as if I´ve never heard anything of that. That means except you could use some additional help, than I would be glad to be of service.”  
“You sure?”, Magnus asked. He couldn´t believe how good that has turned out.  
“Yeah, as long as Camille never finds out that I´ve helped you. I mean I earn my money with the death of people but even I think that this woman is a ruthless scary bitch.”, she answered with a shiver.  
Well, she had a point.  
Raphael turned to Magnus with raised brows. “How did it happen again that you´ve fallen in love with her?”  
“Honestly? I´m asking myself the same thing right now.”, he pointed out, before he had to grin, causing Raphael to grin as well.  
“As cute as it is to see that you guys are having a moment”, Ragnor interjected, “But what exactly is your plan now?”


	12. Chapter 12

Magnus was leaning against the steel handrails, his eyes closed while he was listening to the sounds of New York at night. The loud honking of taxis, the humming of engines, the inviting sounds of party music that came to him from afar as well as the rushing waves of the East River that flowed under him.   
The familiar sounds of the city he called his home.  
He pulled on his jacket (a black coat with red pinestripes). No matter how warm a New York Spring was, the nights in the city were still icy. Especially here, in the middle of the manhatten Bridge.   
Magnus noticed that he was slightly shaking as another cold gust of wind touched him.  
The Manahttan Bridge, a giant steel suspension bridge that bridged over the east river, connected Chinatown with Brooklyn. And interestingly, the bridge wasn´t very old. In fact, it was even younger than Magnus.   
But it was also not a pleasant place to spend your nights. Especially not if said nights were as cold and icy as the current one.   
Magnus wasn´t sure why, of all the possible places in New York, he had chosen the Manhattan Bridge for his meeting with Camille. Maybe because he had felt a little nostalgic during his unpleasant phone call with her. Maybe he wanted this whole disaster to end like it had started: On a bridge at night.  
Magnus watched the lights of the city. It seemed that they were starting a firework in Chinatown. Must be one hell of a party. Just that Magnus wouldn´t join the colorful lights and shiny lampions, the tasty drinks and joyful dances. Instead, he would wait here, in the darkness of the night on this young and cold bridge.   
He had to think back, at Paris. He remembered standing on the Pont Notre-Dame, watching the Seine. He remembered the start of an amazing friendship with a young Spanish guy that was as lost as he was back then. Just that they aren´t lost anymore. They were saved by some amazing people. People he loved more than anything. He remembered betraying a beautiful but cold-hearted woman he once thought of as the love of his life. How wrong he´d been back then. She has never been the love of his life. But she was threatening the lives of his beloved ones now.  
Magnus could hear the clackering sound of high-heeled shoes coming closer. He closed his eyes once more, letting out a heavy sigh before he turned towards her.  
She hasn´t changed a bit: She was wearing a royal blue party dress with pearl embroidery and a black fur coat. Her golden curls were falling loosely over her petite shoulders and her green eyes were as cold as her heart. A devious smile played around the corners of her mouth as she stopped in front of him, maybe two meters away from where he stood.  
“Bonsoir, mon amour.” She purred, causing Magnus´ hackles to set up, “what a lovely night for a crime, don´t you think?”  
“What do you mean?”, Magnus frowned.  
“You tell me.”, she said, her smile widening, “You´ve said that you wanted to meet me here. You´ve said that you wanted to meet me alone. Excuse me for thinking that you came here to apologize.”  
Magnus couldn´t stop the laughter of disbelief that was escaping his mouth at this.  
She was insane!  
“You thought that I came here to apologize and ask for forgiveness?! You poisoned Raphael! You plan to do god-knows-what to Simon!”  
Camille rolled her eyes. “Fine.”, she said, more annoyed than regretful, “Sorry for killing your little playmate.”  
Killing?  
So she had no idea that Raph and Tess were on their ways to recovery.  
Somehow, that thought was calming.  
“But now, we can continue where we´ve stopped five years ago.”, Camille announced, “You and I, mon amour, we can do great. We´ll become wealthier than the king and queen themselves. There will be no one who could stop us. What do you say?”  
Yep, she had definitely lost her goddamn mind.  
“You can´t actually believe that I would do that, Camille.”, Magnus stared at her in disbelief.  
“You´re here, aren´t you?”  
“Yes, to stop you!”  
Camille laughed. A scary laughter that gave him goose bumps. “Oh, mon doux inmbécile, you´re wrong. You´re lying to yourself.”  
“Why do you think that?”  
“Because if you would really want to stop me, then you would have brought this little uniformed lapse of good taste with you to arrest me. But you haven´t. Again. You came here to meet me alone. Again. You love me, Magnus. Accept it finally.”  
“You don´t love me.”, Magnus said bitter.  
“Does that matter so much to you?”, Camille´s voice was sweet and alluring, “I´ve never really loved you. Not even back then, in Paris. But you were happy with me, remember?”  
“That wasn´t happiness at all.”, Magnus said, grabbing into the pocket of his coat, taking the little black revolver out and pointing its barrel at the woman in front of him, “And you´re wrong. I am here to stop you.”  
“Don´t be a fool, Magnus.”, Camille said. Her voice turned from poisonous sweet to dangerously wild, “These people don´t know you. But I know you. Better than anyone else. So come with me. Choose me.”  
“If you would really know me, Camille, then you would know that the decision has already been made a long time ago.”  
The sounds were so familiar: the honking of taxis, the humming of engines, the dance music of a party, the dull bangs of the firework and the rushing waves of the East river. They were all mixing together to a sound that could simply be described as New York at Night.   
But now there was another sound. Louder than all the others. A shrill sound that drowned all the others, here, on the middle of the Manhattan bridge at night.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I´m so SORRY I needed so long for this update!!! But life can be so stressful sometimes and I simply couldn´t find the time to write:( But well… better late than never, right;)

The gun felt so familiar in his hand: It was an US revolver of the brand Smith & Wesson. It was black with the typical drum for the catridges. It wasn´t the first time that he used this gun, but it occurred to him that this was the first time that he was completely sober while doing it.  
He had won said gun at a poker game that he had once played against a bunch of US soldiers in the backroom of a tiny, irish pub in Downtown.  
And it seemed that Ragnor must have polished the gun only recently. It shone so much that the lights of the firework were reflected in the black barrel.  
Camille just stared at him with wide eyes.  
“How could you?”, even though her voice was nothing more than a whisper, it was still full of hatred and rage, “I thought you love me!”  
The sounds were so familiar: the honking of taxis, the humming of engines, the dance music of a party, the dull bangs of the firework and the rushing waves of the East river. They were all mixing together to a sound that could simply be described as New York at Night.   
But now there was this other sound, louder than all the others: A shrill sound that drowned all the others.  
Sirens.  
Followed by the flickering blue light of the approaching police cars.  
Magnus dropped his hand, letting the gun fall to the ground.   
“Have you really thought that I would be so stupid to do the same mistake twice?”, he asked, his voice calm, filled with sadness and exhaustion, “It´s over, Camille.”  
Camille snorted contemptuously. “I can´t believe that you´ve called the cops.”, her face was full of hatred. Hatred for him. She has always been one of the most beautiful women he´d ever seen, but in this moment, she looked everything but, “I gave you the chance to choose me! And what do you do? You chose a life on the side of some little defender of justice! A good guy! A boring one!” She snorted again. “You could have had me!”  
“But I have him.”, Magnus didn´t take his eyes off her, as if she would be a predator ready to attack him every second.  
To be honest: the thought wasn´t completely groundless.  
“And he is SO much better than you could ever be.”  
Magnus had never been so grateful that Camille´s murderous glares couldn´t actually kill.  
She swallowed hard. And then she proofed to Magnus that his previous thought was everything but groundless. She jumped at him, using his moment of surprise and shock to push him against the steel handrails before she went to the gun and grabbed it hastily, pointing its barrel at Magnus.  
“You´ve been so right, mon cheri.”, she gave him a wide, crazy smile, her white teeth shining bright in the darkness of the night, “It´s over.”

5 years ago…  
(part 11)  
The palais du Louvre: one of the most famous museums in the world with a truly exquisite collection of art. Magnus took himself the time to stop and take in the scenery in front of him: the Louvre was already a spectacular building during daytime, but it was even more breathtaking at nights like this. Its outer façade (which reminded him of the old English mansion he grew up in) was brightly lit and you could hear the elegant sounds of orchestral music coming out of the open windows. The sky was amazingly clear. There was no single cloud that obscured the truly numerous stars and the moon shone down on them. If you would have asked Magnus, he would have told you that the moon was brighter than usual tonight, but this were just his nerves playing a trick on him. A crowd of upper-class Parisians flocked in: all dressed in elegant tuxedos and over-the-top evening gowns with jewels glittering in in all the colors of the rainbow in the glow of the light. They had chosen to do the robbery during an event on the occasion of the Egyptian exhibition. An event they were invited to as well. It was easier this way: Since they all stood on the guest list (thanks to Magnus), they didn´t had to break in first (Well, at least not really…).  
When Raphael noticed that Magnus wasn´t beside him anymore, he stopped, turning around. He was just a few feet ahead. He wore a classic black tuxedo with a black shirt, and even though Magnus had insisted on it, he had refused to wear the red bow tie Magnus wanted him to wear as an eye catcher (and because he had hoped that Raphael would for once wear an other color than black…) and had instead chosen a black one as well. The night was windy and some of his dark curls had fallen in his face, covering his forehead and he had to brush them back again.  
He gave Magnus a questioning, slightly impatient look. “Estás planeando echar raíces aqui? Come on”, he made a gesture with his hand, “We´re already late.”  
“You think this will end good?” Magnus asked, looking at the building in front of them with concern in his eyes.  
“God no”, Raph exclaimed, “But it´s the right thing to do… I guess. Besides, it´s already to late for a backlash. Why? Are you afraid?”, he teased and Magnus couldn´t stop the grin curling up the corners of his lips.  
“Not at all”, he lied.  
“Then you´re even crazier than I feared.” And with that they went in.  
The thing is: Getting into the Louvre was the only unproblematic part of their plan. But they still had to   
a) Get into the closed part of the museum where the exhibition was  
b) Break the display case  
c) Steal Camilles object of desire  
d) Get out of the Louvre without raising attention or getting caught.  
Not to forget that Camilles plan involved Lilly murdering one of the guards so that Raph and Magnus could get to the exhibition at all.  
The only good thing about these kinds of events was: most of the guests would fall on the champagne and the cocktails like a locust plague so they would definitely be too drunk to notice four criminals robbing the museum.  
From the outside, the Louvre was already an impressive sight, but its interior was simply breathtaking. Golden ornaments on the walls, ceiling frescoes with pictures of angels looking down at you and floors that were so well polished that the lights reflected in them and illuminated the entire hall. And as if that wasn´t splendid enough, a large solid gold candelabra had been attached to the ceiling. Glass crystals were hanging from it in which the light broke.  
Music was filling the room together with a mixture of sounds that typically belonged to the parties of the rich and beautiful: whispering, laughter and giggling, highheeled shoes that stalked over expensive floors and the clinking of champagne glasses that were bumped against each other.  
Out of the corner of his eyes, Magnus saw a person coming towards them. And for one short minute, he couldn´t help but holding his breath. She wore a floor-length figure-hugging black dress with a low neckline. Several pearl necklaces adored her decollete and her blonde curls were pinned up to an elaborate hairstyle.  
She really was breathtakingly beautiful. But sadly, she was also as beautiful as she was cold-hearted. Magnus couldn´t help but stare at her while she came closer. He tried to memorize every little detail of her: her narrow waist, the way her hip moved when she walked, her bright green eyes and her flawless complexion.  
Because when the sun would rise the next morning, it would be completely over. After this night, he would never see her again. He couldn´t help the dull pang his heart made every time he came to realize that.  
But then she gave him a devious smile and Magnus snapped back into reality. It was better this way. She needed to be stopped. He couldn´t save Tessa from their family but he would save whoever it was who had the bad luck to stand in her way from her evil plans.  
Her smile widened to an evil grin as she stopped in front of them.  
“Bonsoir, Cheri”, she purred, causing his hackles to set up, “Ready to do some really bad things?”  
“Whatever is needable.”, Raphael answered on his place, sounding almost indifferent. Magnus wondered if he really didn´t care or if he was just a brilliant actor. On every case, he would never play poker against that guy.  
“Brilliant”, she grinned, putting an arm around Magnus´ waist while pulling Raphael closer so that they could talk without anyone else eavesdropping on them.  
“Lilly´s on position. You have thirty minutes until the next guard will cross your way so you should better hurry unless you want to be responsible for another dead security guy.”  
“Understood”, Raphael said as if it would be the most boring talk he´d ever had and then he grabbed Magnus´ arm and pulled him through the room.   
“Don´t be so tense” he murmured at him, “people will notice and that would be bad. For us and for them.”  
He was right. Magnus knew that he was right. And so he finally allowed himself to breath out again. They tried to sink in the crowd of the other rich party guests while they simultaneously headed for the barrier. When they reached it, they heard the shattering sound of splintered glass and the blunt impact of a body on the polished ground. Immediately, the room was full of worried exclamations and bored people that were attracted by the events like a moth was attracted to a flame. Camille had faked a fainting fit to attract all the attention so that the boys could get into the closed area unnoticed. (Besides, she loved being the center of everyone´s attention.)  
They carefully sneaked through the dark rooms. It was strange, Magnus thought. In the other room, there was light and dance and music. It had simply been full of life but this, this was everything but. It was dark and cold. Some objects were covered by fabrics and the word `lifeless´ got a completely new level of meaning when they passed a sarcophagus.  
Magnus nearly let out a scream when someone tipped him on the shoulder from behind. He spun around, letting out a relieved breath when he looked into the familiar face.  
“Dios! Lilly”, Raphael hissed next to him, “Do you want him to die on a heart attack?!”  
“Sorry guys”, she said, not looking sorry at all. “But you will be happy to hear that everything´s done so far”  
“So the security guard….?”  
“Is as dead as he´s supposed to be”, she giggled, pointing at the entry to another room where a lifeless body was laying on the ground, covered in a red liquid. “It was kind of funny, I have to admit.” She said, “even though I´m pretty sure that he´s not so happy about it at all.”  
“He is never.”, Magnus said, his voice lowered. “Camille should be here soon. Make sure she doesn´t inspect your work too closely.”  
“I´m not an amateur, Magnus. I can handle her. But will you be able to play your part?”  
“We will.” Magnus said, exchanging a view with Raphael.  
“Well then, guys. See you later.”, And with that, Lilly went back to the guy on the ground. Magnus and Raphael exchanged another quick view, before they continued their search for the wanted object.  
Lilly took a seat on the cold stone floor next to her victim, leaning her back against the wall as she stretched out her legs. She watched with worried eyes how the boys disappeared into the darkness.  
“This is the dumbest plan ever”, Ragnor said. He was still lying on the floor, but he was slightly leaning on his elbows now so that he was able to lift his head properly. “Why do I have to play the dead guy? My back starts to hurt.”  
“Dead do not complain so much.”, Lily answered half absent-minded, “besides, you should lay down again. Camille can arrive here every minute and if she finds out that the stuff on your back is only fake blood from the theatre, then we will be dead for real.”  
Ragnor let out an annoyed groan, but put his head down anyways. They waited there in the silence some more minutes longer, before Lilly could hear footsteps approaching.  
Letting out a breath she didn´t even knew she was holding, she announced: “She´s here.”


	14. Chapter 14

Magnus´ shoulder ached. A result of Camilles attack and the bullet wound he had suffered during the Christmas time. He was sitting on the ground, back leaning against the steel railing in a truly uncomfortable way that wasn´t helping his shoulder at all.  
But he couldn´t care less, right now. Camille was standing in front of him, a furious, nearly crazy, glare in her eyes as she pointed the gun at him. “You´ve been so right, mon cheri.”, she gave him a wide, crazy smile, her white teeth shining bright in the darkness of the night. Magnus could hear the loud sirens of the police cars, and in the corner of his eyes, he could see the first of the cars driving on the bridge before coming to an abrupt stop. A young man was jumping out of the car, running towards them. Magnus was sure that he was shouting something, maybe calling them, but he couldn´t understand a single word that was coming out of the beautiful mouth of his detective inspector.  
“It´s over.” And with that, Camille pressed the trigger. You could hear the clicking sound of the drum turning, but that was all. Camille´s eyes widened, and she pressed the trigger again, and again. But ignore to the clicking sound and the turning drum, nothing happened.  
The weapon was not loaded.   
Magnus couldn´t help but remembering a quote of Einstein Ragnor used to tease him with during one of their summers in Peru. If you do the same thing over and over again because you expect a different result, than you´re insane. As he watched Camille pressing the trigger over and over again, her eyes wide with rage and frustration while she hoped for one single bullet to kill him with, he thought that she was indeed, on her way into insanity. If she hasn´t been insane the whole time.  
“You need bullets to shoot someone, ma chere.”, he finally said. He felt tired, as if he hadn´t slept in ages. But maybe it had been a mistake to say something at all because suddenly, her attention switched from the unloaded gun back to him. “You damn-“, she began, but got interrupted by a loud, angry voice:  
“NYPD! Put your gun down!”, Alexander had finally reached them. He stood only a few feet away, his gun pointed at Camille.  
“Just so you know”, Magnus told her, “His gun IS loaded.” The glare she shot him was more than just murderous, but she put down the gun anyways.   
Magnus watched with mixed feelings how two uniformed police officers handcuffed her and brought her to one of the police cars at the end of the bridge.   
“Hey”, Alec´s voice was soft as he knelt down beside him, eyeing him with a worried expression on his face “are you ok? How do you feel?”  
“I don´t know how I feel”, Magnus replied, sighing.  
He really didn´t know how he felt. Because it felt strange, nearly like on Christmas, when Tessa was alive and Mortmain defeated. A surreal feeling, too good to be true.   
Alec gave him another once over, before getting up on his feet again, offering him a hand.  
“Come on, there are two special people waiting for you”, he grinned.  
Magnus let him pulling him to his feet, returning the grin. “You know”, he teased, “I really like seeing you in your detective inspector mode.” Alec couldn´t help the laughter of disbelief that escaped him for one short moment, before he put an arm around Magnus´ waist, walking with him to the car.  
This man was truly unbelievable.

5 years ago… (part 12)  
It wasn´t long until they reached a closed door. There it was. On the other side of the door was the room with the most precious pieces of art, including the ring of cleopatra that Camille wanted so badly.  
“Do you have the keys?”, Raphael asked, inspecting the door closely.  
“Sure”   
They slowly opened the door, careful not to be too noisy. They couldn´t risk being caught.   
The other room was completely dark, and Magnus needed his lamp to see at least the tiniest thing in there. As they stepped into the darkness, Magnus had to cough unwillingly, causing Raphael to shoot him a warning glare.  
“S-sorry”, he coughed. But to his defense, it wasn´t his fault. They were in a storage room. There was dust flying around and the musty smell of old wood filled the air. There were objects of various sizes and shapes, all covered by white sheets. It looked so abandoned. So familiar. After Tessa vanished, they moved from their old mansion to another. The explanation that his father has given him was that the mansion was full of sad memories; but Magnus believed that it was to cover up evidences. They had only taken very few things with them, but most of their stuff, their furniture and decoration, was left behind. After they had left, their servants had covered all their stuff with such sheets as well (to protect the things from dust and time). He´d never been in their old mansion again. As he had never seen the things again. They´re still there, in the mansion, hidden under long white sheets.  
“Dios!”, Raphael cursed under his breath, “Have they never heard of a duster?!”, He waved with his hand through the air, but instead of waving the dust away, he just whirled it around, making it worse.   
“Any idea where to look?”, Magnus asked, inspecting the covered forms closely through narrowed eyes.   
Raphael let his view wander through the room. “Everything in here is either in a storage box or already in the corresponding showcase. Considering the fact that the ring is the highlight of the exhibition and the exhibition already starts next week, I would put my money on that it´s already in a showcase.”  
“Compared to the other pieces of the exhibition, the ring should be relatively small… so a small but possibly high showcase?”, Magnus added to Raphael´s thoughts. “So… how about this one?” He pointed into one corner of the room. Next to a nearly two meters tall box, there was something under one of the white sheets that looked like a high thin pillar.  
They crossed the room, careful not to overturn any of the other pieces. As Raph pulled the sheet away in a swift motion, whirling up even more dust while doing so, Magnus saw a beautiful extravagant solid gold ring set with a large sapphire protected by a glass box.  
Cleopatras Ring.  
“So, how do we gonna open the box?”, Magnus looked over to Raphael who just shrugged before he slammed the glass with his elbow. A clinking sound filled the silence of the room as the splinters spread the marble floor, shining like diamonds in the light of the lamps.  
Magnus stared at him with shock in his eyes. “What the-“  
“Not elegant, but efficient.”, Raphael shrugged, carefully taking the ring out of the remains of the old showcase. “Come on, let´s go before we run into the next security guard.”  
They hurried towards the back exit with quick steps when they heard a voice that sent a cold shiver down their spines:  
“That was fast. I´m impressed.” Camille leaned against one of the walls, a satisfied smile on her lips and a dangerous spark in her eyes.  
“Now, give me my ring.”


End file.
